Case No. UKUT-00227-(IAC)

FOR MAKING E FFECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS TO SAFEGUARD AND PROMOTE CHILDREN’S W EL F ARE 1.6. Each agency will have different contributions to make towards safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children depending on the functions for which they have responsibility. For example, the main contribution of some services might be to identify and act on their concerns about the welfare of children with whom they come into contact, perhaps during or following completion of a common assessment while others might be more involved in supporting a child once concerns have been identified. The UK Border Agency is among the former. There are some key features of effective arrangements to safeguard and promote the 5 Chief Inspector of Social Ser vices, Commission for Health Imp r ovement, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabular y , Her Majesty’s Chief inspector of the C r own P r osecution Ser vice, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Magistrates’ Cour ts Ser vice, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of P r obation (2002). Safegua r ding Child r en – A Joint Chief Inspectors’ Repor t on A r rangements to Safegua r d Child r en. London , Depar tment of Health. welfare of children which all agencies will need to take account of in addition to those that are particular to its own work, when undertaking their particular functions. These arrangements will help agencies to create and maintain an organisational culture and ethos that reflectsthe importance of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. STR A TEGIC AND O RGANIS A TIONAL A RRANGEMENTS 1.7. Many organisations subject to the section 11 duty (or in Wales the section 28 duty) are also required to take part in Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs). LSCBs are thekey statutory mechanism for agreeing how the relevant organisations in each localarea cooperate to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in that locality, and for ensuring their effectiveness. The Local Authority convenes and is also a member of the LSCB. The Board partners are set out insection 13(3) of the 2004 Act for England and in section 31(3) for Wales6. They are: • district councils in local g o v e r nment areas that h a v e them; • the c hief police officer for a police area of whi c h any pa r t falls within the area of the Local A uthority; • the local probation board for an area of whi c h any pa r t falls within the area of the Local A uthority; • the Y outh Offending T eam for an area of whi c h any pa r t falls within the area of the Local A uthority; 6 In W ales they a r e: the members a child r en’s ser vices authority in W ales ; a Local Health Boa r d; an NHS t r ust all or most of whose hospitals, establishments and facilities a r e situated in W ales; the police authority and chief officer of police for a police a r ea in W ales; the British T ranspor t Police Authorit y , so far as exe r cising functions in r elation to W ales; a local p r obation boa r d for an a r ea in W ales; a youth of fending team for an a r ea in W ales; (h) the gove r nor of a prison or secu r e training cent r e in W ales (o r , in the case of a contracted out prison or secu r e training cent r e, its di r ector); ( i ) any person to the extent that he is p r oviding ser vices pursuant to a r rangements made by a child r en’s ser vices authority in W ales under section 123(1)(b) of the Lea r ning and Skills Act 2000 (c. 21) (youth suppor t ser vices). • Strategic Health A uthorities and Prima r y Care Trusts for an area of which any part falls within the area of the Local Authority; • NHS T r usts and NHS F oundation T r ust s , all or most of whose hospitals or establishments and facilities are situated in the Local A uthority area; • the Connexions se r vice operating in any pa r t of the area of the Local A uthority; • CAFCASS (Children and F amily Cou r ts Advisory and Support Service), • the G o v e r nor or Director of any Secure T raining Centre in the area of the Local A uthority; and • the G o v e r nor or Director of any prison in the Local Authority area that ordinarily detains children.1.8. Other organisations can be involved in LSCB by agreement. The UK Border Agency is one of these. For details of how the UK Border Agency fits in with these arrangements see Part 2 of this guidance.1.9. At an organisational or strategic level within individual agencies, key features for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children are: a. Senior management commitment to the impo r tance of safegua r ding and p r omoting child r en’s welfa r e Senior managers will need to demonstrate leadership, be informed about, and take responsibility for the actions of their staff who are providing services to children and their families. This could mean identifying a named person at senior management level tochampion the importance of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children throughout the organisation. Senior managers will alsobe responsible for monitoring the actionsof their staff to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This includes ensuringthat children and young people are listened to appropriately and concerns expressed about their or any other child’s welfareare taken seriously and responded to in an appropriate manner. b. A clear statement of the agency’s r esponsibilities towa r ds child r en is available for all sta f f This should include any children in the care of the agencies, any with whom they work directly and those with whom they come into contact. It could form part of an agency’s existing policy and/or procedures. All staff should be made aware of their agency’s policies and procedures on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and the importance of listening to children and young people, particularly when they are expressing concerns about either their own or other children’s welfare. Effective systems should be in place for children, staff and other peopleto make a complaint where there are concerns that action to safeguard and promote a child’s welfare has not been taken in accordance with the agency’s procedures. c. A clear line of accountability within the o r ganisation for work on safegua r ding and p r omoting the welfa r e of child r en It should be clear who has overall responsibility for the agency’s contribution to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and what the lines of accountability are from each staff member up through the organisation to the person with ultimate accountability for children’s welfare. Itshould also be clear with whom each staff member should discuss, and to whom they should report, any concerns about a child’s welfare. Responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children can operate at three levels:i. Individual, which can be encompassed within job descriptions;ii. Professional, which is governed by codes of conduct for different disciplines or by distinct guidance on the functions being carried out; andiii. Organisational, with clear linesof accountability throughout the organisation to senior office level. d. Se r vice development takes account of the need to safegua r d and p r omote welfa r e and is info r med, whe r e app r opriate, by the views of child r en and families In developing services, those responsible should consider how the delivery of these services will take account of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. e. Sta f f training on safegua r ding and p r omoting the welfa r e of child r en for all sta f f working with o r , depending on the agency’s prima r y functions, in contact with child r en and families Staff should have an understanding of both their roles and responsibilities and those of other professionals and organisations. This is essential for effective multi- and inter-agency collaboration. Agencies are encouraged to enable staff to participate in training provided on an inter-agency basis as well as in single agency training provided by the agency itself. Safeguarding and promoting the welfareof children is one of the six areas of the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce (2005) prospectus. This prospectus informs the training provided to all those working in children’s services. Training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children should be relevant to the roles and responsibilities of each staff member. f. Safer r ec r uitment Robust recruitment and vetting procedures must be in place to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children. This means thorough checks are carried out on all people as part of the recruitment process, and references are always taken up. People who recruit staff to work with children must have the appropriate training. The Safeguarding g. E f fective inter-agency working to safegua r d and p r omote the welfa r e of child r en This involves agencies and staff working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Inter-agency working is crucial to ensuring the effectiveness of such working. The sharing of information and constructive relationships between individual membersof staff and teams should be supported by a strong lead from the Lead Member for Children’s Services, and Director of Children’s Services and commitment of all ChiefOfficers. This effective working should beat a strategic and an individual child level, in accordance with guidance from their LSCB, regarding safeguarding children, or for the Prison Service, in accordance with the policy agreed with the LSCB local to each prison. The LSCB guidance should be consistent with the current statutory guidance The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (2000) and Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006). TheGovernment’s practice guidance, What To Do If You’re Worried A Child Is Being Abused (HM Government 2006), is for use by practitioners and their managers in all agencies to inform them about what to do when they have concerns that a child may be a child in need, including concerns about a child whom itis believed is, or may be at risk of, suffering significant harm7. The UK Border Agency contribution to inter-agency work is described in Part 2. h. Info r mation sharing Effective information sharing by professionals is central to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. It is therefore essential that effective arrangements for sharing information about a child and their family within each agency and between agencies are in place. This will usually be set out in the form of a protocol or information sharing agreement setting outVulnerable Groups Act 2006 establishes a new vetting and barring scheme from October2009 for those who work with children and vulnerable adults. 7 These documents can be found at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/ever ychildmatters/1240; www.dcsf.gov.uk/ever ychildmatters/1236; www.dcsf.gov.uk/ever ychildmatters/_download/?id=760 the process to be followed and the legal and security issues that need to be considered. However, the lack of an information sharing agreement between agencies should neverbe a reason for not sharing information that could help a practitioner deliver services to a child. The Welsh version of “Working Together” contains non-statutory guidance on good practice in information sharing.The decision to share or not to share information about a child should always be taken on a case by case basis based on professional judgement, supported by the cross-Government Information Sharing:Practitioners’ Guide (published in April 2006)8 and in line with the provisions of the Data Protection Act and Human Rights Act 1998 with consideration of any duty of confidence which is owed and the data security issues raised by the Cabinet Office guidelines on handling personal data. Full guidance on these issues is provided in Information Sharing: Practitioners’ Guide (HM Government, 2006). The consent of children, young people and their caregivers should be obtained when sharing information unless to do so would place the child at risk of significant harm.1.10. In order to safeguard and promote children’s welfare, arrangements should ensure that: • all staff in contact with c hildren understand what to do and the most effect i v e wa ys of sharing info r mation if they belie v e that a c hild and family m a y require pa r ticular se r vices in order to a c hie v e their opti m um outcomes; • all staff in contact with c hildren understand what to do and when to share info r mation if they belie v e that a child may be a child in need, including those children suffering or at risk of suffering harm; • appropriate a g ency-specific guidance is produced to complement guidance issued b y central G o v e r nment, and su c h guidance and appropriate training is made a v ailable to existing and new staff as pa r t of their induction and on g oing training; • guidance and training specifically c o v ers the sharing of info r mation bet w een profession s , or g anisations and a g encie s , as w ell as within them, and a r ran g ements for training ta k e into account the v alue of multi-agency training as well as single agency training; • mana g ers in c hildre n ’ s se r vices are fully co n v ersant with the le g al frame w ork and g ood practice guidance issued for practitioners w orking with c hildren. CON T ACT P OINT 9 1.11. Contact Point is a key part of the Every ChildMatters programme to improve outcomes for children and will support practitioners, local authorities and other organisations infulfilling their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It is currently being delivered in phases that began in May 2009and that are gradually being rolled out to other local authorities and partners. Contact Point will be the quick way to find out who else is working with the same child or young person and allow services to contact one anothermore efficiently. This basic online directory will be available to authorised staff who need it do their jobs.1.12. Contact Point will not contain any detailed information (such as case notes, assessments, and clinical data or exam results). The legal framework for the operation of Contact Point is provided by regulations, made under section12 of the 2004 Act and further operational details are set out in Statutory Guidance that was published in late 2007. 8 This is c r oss-gove r nment guidance that complements and suppor ts policies to imp r ove info r mation sharing ac r oss all ser vices. It is at www.dcsf.gov.uk/ever ychildmatters/_download/?id=103 9 Contact Point exists in England onl y . WORK